AP Analysis: Old Writings Now New Woes For Arkansas GOP

Sunday

Oct 14, 2012 at 3:22 AMOct 14, 2012 at 3:54 AM

LITTLE ROCK — The racially charged writings of three Republican House candidates in Arkansas have become a problem for GOP leaders inching closer toward what they believe is a takeover of the state Legislature. The only question that remains is whether they can keep the damage from spreading into other races.

LITTLE ROCK — The racially charged writings of three Republican House candidates in Arkansas have become a problem for GOP leaders inching closer toward what they believe is a takeover of the state Legislature. The only question that remains is whether they can keep the damage from spreading into other races.

The Republicans aren’t grappling with a problem that came about because of a hidden camera capturing what was intended to be a private comment or a gaffe on the campaign trail. In fact, these were remarks intended for mass distribution.

Shortly after taking office in 2011, Republican Rep. Jon Hubbard gave some colleagues a copy of a self-published book where he wrote that slavery may have been a “blessing in disguise” for African-Americans. In the years leading up to his successful bid for a state House seat last year, Republican Rep. Loy Mauch wrote dozens of letters to a Little Rock newspaper defending the Confederacy and calling Abraham Lincoln a “war criminal.” GOP House candidate and former House member Charlie Fuqua set up a website to promote his self-published book where he, among other things, calls for the deportation of all Muslims.

The writings could upend a campaign where Republicans have plenty of reasons to be confident.

Democratic President Barack Obama’s popularity remains bleak in the state, and most political observers believe the GOP is poised to sweep all four of Arkansas’ congressional districts. It’s a situation that many Democrats acknowledge has created an advantage for a Republican Party that hasn’t controlled either chamber of the Legislature since Reconstruction.

The Republican efforts to distance the party from the three’s comments show just how precarious that advantage is, and how much GOP leaders want to limit the fallout. State GOP officials announced last week that they would not contribute any more money to Fuqua, Hubbard or Mauch. The state’s three Republican congressmen also criticized the candidates’ remarks.

“The statements that have been reported portray attitudes and beliefs that would return our state and country to a harmful and regrettable past,” freshman Republican U.S. Rep Rick Crawford said.

Congressman Tim Griffin, widely viewed as a potential candidate for governor or Senate in 2014, called on the three to give his campaign contributions to charity. He said Mauch’s writings ranged from “outrageous to historically inaccurate and anachronistic to downright odd.”

The comments clearly provide an opening for Democrats, who have grappled with controversies of their own in addition to an unfriendly political climate this year. Those controversies include a state legislator who resigned after pleading guilty to ballot fraud and a state treasurer whose investment practices have come under fire.

But the state’s top Democrats, at least publicly, are being careful to not use the comments as an argument against all Republican candidates on the ballot this fall.

“I don’t paint the whole Republican Party with the actions of some, just like you don’t paint the whole Democratic Party with the actions of some,” Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who called the writings sad and embarrassing, told reporters last week. “There are people on both sides of the aisle who reflect badly on their respective parties. It’s the nature of the beast. As a result of that, you have to be careful not to throw everybody in that same pan.”

Despite that, fallout from the controversial writings by the three is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Hubbard’s decision to write a letter to the Jonesboro Sun comparing Beebe, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and other top Democrats to Nazis for their criticism hurt Republicans’ efforts to distance the party from the writings and end it as an election-year issue.

Republicans publicly say they’re not worried about the controversy affecting other races or the party’s bid to win a majority in the House and Senate. While not calling for the three to withdraw their candidacies, GOP officials say it’ll be up to the voters to render a verdict.

“That’s the good thing about elections,” said Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison. “The voters are going to have a say in four weeks.”

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